Comparing Clueless and Emma Essay

• Amy Heckerling’s teenpic comedy Clueless resonates the ideas, values and cultural assumptions evident in Jane Austen’s Emma

A Comparison of Emma by Jane Austen and Movie Clueless The film Clueless, written and directed by Amy Heckerling, is an adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Emma and closely parallels the story in terms of character development and action. Although Emma was written in 1816 and developed ideas and issues of that period in time, 180 years on we can still recognize and identify with the exact same issues. This just proves that despite all the radical social changes that have taken place since Jane Austen's time, people and life haven't really changed all that much. The general life issues of money, love, friendship, class and finding ones place in the world are raised in both texts.

Jane Austen’s novel 'Emma' and Amy Heckerling’s Clueless, as significant and satirical reflections of Regency England and postmodern America respectively, indicate how the transformation process can shape and improve literacy, intertextual and logical importance. The transformation is evident in the compositions Jane Austen’s ‘Emma’ and Amy Heckerling’s ‘Clueless’ enabling us to investigate the assortment of logical subjects. Regarding ‘Emma’ the perspective throughout the Regency time frame examines the strict values of love and marriage inside the inflexible social hierarchy. Austen’s advances the significance of etiquette throughout the text. Austen reveals a neo-women’s activist perspective, shown in the female protagonist revealing the female protagonists’ scholarly capacity and social equity in an otherwise patriarchal society. However, the close resemblance of the story; ‘Clueless’, Heckerling composition conveys entirely transformed values, reflected through the actions of the current upper-working class of contemporary Los Angeles. The critical analysis of commercialism in the informal social class system of modern America reiterating social expectations of gender and social characterisation within the microcosm of the typical American educational system. The transformation in attitudes of Austen, reveals an exhaustive utilisation of setting, a close examination of dialect and various artistic procedure.

Comparisons of Emma and Clueless pose critical explorations into the importance of context and its role in shaping social values. Heckerling’s appropriation of Jane Austen’s 19thC Emma, provides contrasting social ideals regarding gender and class which can be accredited as a result of their differing contextual settings. Values surrounding the importance of social hierarchy, gender disparities and education are prevalent themes addressed within each text. Due to shifts in social standards during the 2 centuries separating these texts, there are particular distinctions between the mechanisms underlying these themes. However, a key similarity linking these texts are their critiques on the morality behind the actions of those in privileged

Jane Austen's novel "Emma" published in 1815 and the film adaptation "Clueless" written and directed by Amy Heckerling in 1995 both share a similar interest in maintaining a high social status. Emma Woodhouse of the novel "Emma" and Cher Horowitz from the film "Clueless" are both spoiled young lady living in a high-class society. Emma Woodhouse is part of the rich, upscale society in a large and populous village in the nineteenth century England, while Cher Horowitz lives in a rich, upscale Beverly Hills, California USA. Both of the main characters, Emma and Cher shows arrogance and lack of acceptance to other social class due to their use of power and wealth, which they are unaware of it themselves. Emma and Cher's immaturity has resulted

Both Amy Heckerling and Jane Austen satirise their society to convey an understanding of the strict social hierarchy and how social status is based on the stratification of wealth. The opening of ‘Clueless’ is a pastiche of high angle shots and the diegetic music “Kids of America” which is directly correlated with the beginning of the novel “Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, rich.” Here, the cumulative listing allows Austen’s to reflect on the intrinsic understanding of the hierarchy that social status articulates. Austen’s authorial intrusion in “The intimacy between her and Emma must sink into a calmer sort of

Emma Woodhouse, who begins the novel "handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and a happy disposition" (Austen 1), suffers from a dangerous propensity to play matchmaker, diving into other’s lives, for what she believes is their own good. Despite this, she is a sympathetic character. Her matchmaking leads only to near-disasters and her expressions of remorse following these mistakes are sincere and resolute. Jane Austen's Emma concerns the social milieu of a sympathetic, but flawed young woman whose self-delusion regarding her flaws is gradually erased through a series of comic and ironic events.

Draft thesis: The ideas of appearance vs reality, development of maturity and love are ideas explored through techniques,

First, in this paragraph I want to focus on the ladies behind Clueless/Emma. Cher Horowitz (Clueless, 1995), Emma woodhouse (Emma, 1815), and Amy Heckerling, the producer of Clueless. Cher is an elegant, young daddy’s girl who lives in the high class town of Beverley hills. Chers main goal in life is to keep her daddy healthy, and keep up with the latest fashion statements. Throughout the film we watch Cher mature and go through basic life lessons. We see her experience

Teen rebellion is contrasted to “Romeo and Juliet”, and through centuries of movies, books, songs, and along with poems because people relate to going against rules at some point in their life to do something they said they were not supposed (Shakespeare). Teen rebellion makes songs, poetry, books, and movies more desirable by giving it a more unique, and interesting look at different point of views which some to most people could relate to in some way. Most movies, and songs can give some representation of teenage rebellion, and therefore it could be rebelling against the rules, against one’s parents, or even the law. For example, in the movie “The Outsiders” the main characters Ponyboy and Johnny, who are Greasers, get into a brawl with the Social member resulting in a death which causes a series of events leading to a rebellious plan to leave town and go on the run from the law which will show the consequences of one’s actions (Coppola). Another example of teenage rebellion is in the movie “Clueless” where Cher,

The plot for Clueless was about a student name Cher who is a smart and rich girl who is trying to survive her high school days and the daily drama of girls.The plot for Emma is about a twenty year old who believes she will never marry anyone and believes she is a perfect matchmaker.A major

Amy Heckerling’s appropriation of Jane Austen’s, Emma into Clueless; as reflective and satirical parallels of Regency England and contemporary America, substantiate the enhancement of textual, intertextual and contextual meaning; as both become aesthetic replays of each other. By adapting the 19th century, genteel society of Highbury to the 20th century, contemporary microcosm of Beverly Hills, Heckerling gives insight into the realignment of social values and attitudes towards marriage, class and gender roles- an insight provoked by the textual counterparts; Austen’s Emma and Heckerling’s Cher. Ultimately, it is through the mediums of film and literature, and the intertextuality of these two texts that one gets to realise, that despite the

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Emma, a novel by Jane Austen, is the story of a young woman, Emma, who is rich, stubborn, conniving, and occupies her time meddling into others' business. There are several recurring themes throughout the novel; the ideas of marriage, social class, women's confinement, and the power of imagination to blind the one from the truth, which all become delineated and reach a climax during the trip to Box Hill. The scene at Box Hill exposes many underlying emotions that have been built up throughout the novel, and sets the stage for the events that conclude it.

Though written over two centuries apart, the protagonists in Jane Austen’s Emma and Amy Heckerling’s Clueless, are very much alike. They are strong female characters of a certain social standing, that are expected to abide by a particular set of rules and adhere to societal norms. Unlike most young women, Austen’s Emma and Heckerling’s Cher are able to disregard social expectations¬ — like Emma’s idea of marriage, and Cher’s idea of sex — simply because they are privileged and socially stable enough to do so. In this way, both young women simultaneously embrace and reject the principles of female social expectations of their specific time periods. Both Austen and Heckerling confront the belief systems of their readers and viewers through characters that do not act “appropriately” within their respective social environments.